Summary
Duško Kovačević: Russia in international relations 1856 - 1894
The second half of the 19th century represents a special period in the history of Russia. During "twenty years (1860-1880) the country survived two political crises", the first from 1859 to 1861, which resulted in reforms, and the second, from 1878 to 1882, which ended with the beginning of the reaction and counter-reforms of Emperor Alexander III. Both crises were caused by the war Russia was waging, "which clearly indicates the connection between domestic and foreign policy." Defeat in the Crimean War forced Russia to accept a "difficult peace", the government had to be cautious in foreign policy, because tranquility on the country's borders was necessary for the success of internal reforms. Therefore, Russia tried to "solve its foreign policy tasks mainly by peaceful means". Such an approach in foreign policy raised the importance of Russian diplomacy, which, among other things, sought to create an image of Russia as an "enlightened and civilized state" in the eyes of European governments. The evolution of Russian foreign policy after the Crimean War was conditioned by the necessity of reforms in the country itself and the changed circumstances in international relations. Russia had to "provide respite after the lost war for the implementation of internal reforms", but at the same time it had to look for a way out of the "dangerous and humiliating position" in which the Paris Peace Treaty had brought it. It was necessary for the country to get out of the international isolation in which it found itself with the anti-Russian "Crimean coalition" of European states.
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